The Rules and Principles of Anagrams

Part 1: Rules of Structure:
We start with an examination of what are acceptable practices in anagrammatism with regards to the technical aspects, discussing the basic components of what classifies an anagram and allowable ploys and devices in presentation. Content issues are discussed in the section below.

Letter Rearrangement: The first rule of anagrams is that the anagram must contain the exact same letters that are contained in the subject. No addition or omission of letters is permitted. This simple rule is often undermined in an indirect fashion with suspicious practices which are discussed later on.

Upper and Lower Case: Anagrams are not case sensitive. The capital letters in the subject's name can be ignored and any letter in the anagram can be capitalized. This aids in the use of proper names and abbreviations (discussed below).

Punctuation: Punctuation is accepted in anagrams and can be added freely. This is extremely helpful and gives the anagrammatist many more options. Below are the punctuation symbols that are commonly used:

. , ! ? ’ : ; - – ... “ ” ‘ ’

Listed above in order: period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark, apostrophe, colon, semicolon, hyphen, dash, ellipsis, quotation marks

Here are some anagrams that rely on punctuation.

Christina Applegate = Her act: It's appealing.
Levon Aronian = A rival? No! None!
Samuel L. Jackson = Call Jesus! OK, man?
Data = Ta-da!
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone = Propped hat sorts a hero: “Not Slytherin, eh?”

Note: In the same way that punctuation can be added freely to the anagram, it can also be dropped from the original subject such as in names like Jean-Luc Picard or Scarlett O'Hara.

Diacritics: Also called diacritical marks, these are accents and markings that appear on letters in many different languages. Since words of English origin don't have these symbols, it is acceptable to drop the mark in the anagram and on some occasions you may want to add a diacritic in the anagram that is not in the subject such as when you use a word borrowed from another language like blasé or garçon. In some languages, like French, the diacritic is employed to denote a pronunciation of a given letter. In other languages, however, the diacritics are used to denote different letters entirely.

For instance, in the name Ivica Ančić, c, č and ć represent three different letters in BCS*. In English, no such distinctions can be made. Usually, most diacritics are dropped and you won't see them (Ivica Ancic), but when you do, there is no alternative but to ignore them or else many foreign names would be off-limits to English anagrammatists.

Below are a few letters with diacritical marks that you may encounter in an anagram subject. There are many more.

à á ç è é ñ ô ö ù

Here are some anagrams in the Galen galleries that either drop or gain a diacritic.

Edita Gruberová = Be our great diva
Béla Bartók = Broke tabla
Marián Gáborik = A big rink aroma
Antero Niittymäki = Initiate to my rank
Joannie Rochette = A jeté on north ice
Pascal Charbonneau = Uh, Señor Capablanca?

The interesting and topical anagram for Mr. Charbonneau can be found in Chess Anagrams.

* BCS or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian is the current term for Serbo-Croatian, considered by many to be outdated.

Symbols: Symbols are NOT permitted to be added into anagrams. Punctuation and diacritics may influence the sound of an anagram such as in pronunciation, inflection or pacing but they are not spoken in words. Symbols change the meaning on a deeper level and are inevitably spoken. Here are some symbols that you may be tempted to add but shouldn't.

# % & ÷ + = ~ < > / \ °

Notes: The use of a symbol might be reasonable if the symbol appears in both the subject and the anagram. The famous anagram eleven plus two = twelve plus one is sometimes written eleven + two = twelve + one. Also, the equal sign, shown above in the list of prohibited symbols, can be used for presentation but not in the solution. Thirdly, the forward slash is the most debatable of the ones above. Written expressions like N/A, w/o & L/R do not verbalize the symbol and might be deemed acceptable by some.

Symbols as letter replacements: Symbols that appear as altered or embellished versions of letters cannot be substituted for that letter. Eg. a ≠ @ These symbols include, but are not limited to the following:

@ © ¢ £ ® $

Above symbols represent, in order: at, copyright, cent, Pound, Registered, Dollar

Less clear issues arise in devices like computers where it is easy to display letters in a variety of fashions such as italics, bold type, color, subscripts, superscripts, etc. I have used bold type and italics for enhancement of presentation but if the anagram relies on these ploys for meaning, then you have probably crossed a rule boundary. Example, using the symbol f meaning forte, relies too heavily on the italics for meaning.

Abbreviations: Since anagrams are not case sensitive, there is no reason that abbreviations cannot be used in solving anagrams. It is an invaluable tool that many anagrammatists overlook. Many subjects that appear to be dead ends when searching for anagrams can be solved using abbreviations. Below are just a small number of the anagrams that are in the Galen Anagram galleries that use abbreviations.

Kobe Bryant = Try NBA, be OK
Shane Battier = NBA is theater
Jacqueline Bisset = IQ enables justice
Tom Cruise = MIT course
Anton Bruckner = Rock an R 'n B tune
Scott Glenn = “Get lost, CNN!”

NBA = National Basketball Association, IQ = Intelligence Quotient, MIT = Massachussets Institute of Technology, R 'n B = Rhythm and Blues, CNN = Cable News Network
Abbreviations will be discussed in depth in Galen's Anagram Solving Techniques.

Numbers in anagrams: Treat numbers exactly as you would letters when tackling anagram subjects that contain numbers. A person who studies movie titles may encounter this interesting challenge such as in the titles 101 Dalmatians, 12 Angry Men or 2001: A Space Odyssey. At current, the only anagram contained in the Galen galleries that contains numbers is Philadelphia 76ers = ’67 – All hippies heard. It should be noted, that numbers can NOT be exchanged for letters of similar appearance. 0 (zero) cannot be used as the letter 'o' and 1 (one) cannot be used as the letter l (el).


Rules of Content:
The term rule is not as strict as above, as when dealing with structure. Those rules determine whether or not something meets the qualifications to be considered an anagram in a structural sense. The rules of content strive to determine which anagrams have enough merit to be considered anagrams in a linguistic and/or artistic sense. We will start with basic principles that virtually any anagrammatist would agree with and proceed to more subjective ideals later.

All letters must be used: The fundamental rule of anagrams is that one must not add or subtract letters. The anagram must be a perfect letter rearrangement of the subject. Just as one can't omit a letter in the anagram, neither can one shunt a letter to the side, hoping that no one will notice. Every letter must be involved in the structure. Below are examples of unworthy anagrams due to an unused letter:
Vlad the Impaler = Lethal vampire D
Dmitri Mendeleev = Element divider M

Given Vlad the Impaler's association with vampirism and Mendeleev's association with the periodic table, the above anagrams are nearly classics.

Degree of rearrangement: Legitimate anagrams should have a reasonable degree of rearrangement. Make an effort to avoid using words in the solution that are in the subject especially in short subjects. For instance, if you were looking for an anagram for Tiger Woods, tiger and wood are poor starting words. Even in the name Alicia Silverstone, the words silver or stone would best be avoided.

The longer the anagram, the less these rules apply. For instance, if doing an anagram of a Shakespearean soliliquy, I would avoid using significant strings of words in the solution that are found in the subject but any individual word or name should be fair game. The below anagram is found in Harry Potter Anagrams, Page 2.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire = Oh, Potter felt fiery dragon breath.

Spelling: Words within an anagram should be spelled correctly. Words like c'mon, gonna or even 'Wassup!' are acceptable but these colloquialisms can be found in some modern dictionaries and are in fairly wide use. Outright spelling errors are not.

Spelling variations: Many words have more than one spelling. In general, if a spelling variation is still in use or listed in a modern dictionary, then it is acceptable. The most interesting issue with regards to spelling is the difference between British and American spelling. One may wish to use spelling variations that match the nationality of the subject, although this is by no means a strict rule.

Spelling differences between American and British English - a web page at www.gsu.edu (Georgia State Univ.)

Grammar: Grammar should be high on the list of consideration for an anagrammatist. Much of the time, a grammatically strong anagram cannot not be found in a typical subject, so awkward or suspicious grammar is generally accepted. When studying names, for instance, phrasal anagrams are far more common than complete sentences and we tend not to judge the grammar of these sentence fragments as harshly as we do in complete sentences. In general, since anagrammatism can be a tricky business, a certain amount of latitude is given to composers of anagrams and some rather significant grammatical errors are ignored. Consider the following popular anagram:

Madonna Louise Ciccone = Occasional nude income
Attributed to William Tunstall-Pedoe, 1995, at anagramgenius.com

Given the subject, most people would readily understand the intended meaning and accept this as a worthy anagram rather than ask themselves if income can disrobe. However, even in phrasal anagrams, there are certain flagrant grammatical errors that negate the merit of an anagram. Below are examples of both phrases and short sentences that would not qualify as anagrams of legitimate content due to significant flaws.

He's a actor
Better as new
Seven bird in sky
She have fun
As it happen
Never did knew
What is he do?
Hope your OK

Some people would be fooled by the last example, Hope your OK, not noticing the incorrect use of the possessive adjective your in this context.

Meaningful content: Anagrams having a nonsensical meaning have no merit in a linguistic or artistic sense except in the case of extremely difficult subjects where the search for meaningful content is superceded by the challenge of finding any anagram at all such as in the search for perfect pangrams. Below are some examples of sentences and phrases that may seem structurally sound which would not be worthy anagram solutions due to the lack of meaning.

She has red air
A moody wall
Jump at floor
I'm beside the day
Waiver children
Angry carton
Grass is ringing
Up the phone
Desks prefer it
Pensive combs
When is the sky?
Run during then

Foreign words: One should use foreign words that are not in English dictionaries only if they are likely to be known. Few would object to the use of internationally recognized expressions such as “Buenos días” or “C'est la vie!” but introducing foreign words that are not widely known into English anagrams is not recommended.

Part 3: The Principles of Worthy Anagrammatism:
 In this final, most subjective segment, we will examine very specific facets about anagrams and I will give my personal thoughts about what an anagrammatist should strive for most. In the more than 10 years I have been an afficianado of anagrams, my opinions about what constitutes a worthy anagram have changed drastically. The principles discussed in this segment are not just for rating an anagram after its discovery but to help me form the basis of my approach in finding them.


Choice of subject: This is a good place to start. It would be wrong of me to say what type of anagram subjects are best because that should be decided by the interests of the solver, but if you are serious about anagrams and are in the habit of sharing them with others, then there are a couple of things to look out for.

Names of famous people: When searching for anagrams of famous people, it is best to use the form of their name that is most familiar to the public so that the anagram is of interest. Below is a chart of famous actors which shows the name by which they are known followed by an unsuitable anagram subject.

YES
NO
Michael J. Fox
Michael Fox
Danny De Vito
Daniel De Vito
Jennifer Aniston
Jenny Aniston
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Hoffman
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey

Some people are known by more than one form of their name. In this case, one has a choice of topics. Some examples are James (Jimmy) Stewart, Elizabeth (Liz) Taylor and David (Dave) Letterman.

Contrived Subjects: Do not use contrived subjects if you wish your anagrams to be taken seriously. The format of your subjects should be consistent if you like to use extended forms. One such accepted form is the following:

(Playrights name) + ’s + (Play): Eg. William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Contriving an obscure form like An actress, Jennifer Aniston or Mao Tse Tung of China seems suspicious and will not likely be of interest to many anagram fans.

Topicality: The relationship between the subject and solution seems to be the predominant feature of popular and widely circulated anagrams. Although it is not an absolutely necessary feature, searching for words that relate to the subject is a good place to start. It can be helpful to study people on the Internet so that anagrams are that much more likely to fit the subject. When doing many names related to a certain subject (poker, figure skating, etc.), refresh yourself with the terminology of the topic so that you I can spot topical words and abbreviations in people's names of that field.

The first list below is comprised of anagrams that relate to the subject in a very direct fashion.

Retief Goosen = Go fire on tees = Tiger's one foe
Retief is a PGA golfer
Brian Scalabrine = An NBA caliber sir
Brian is an NBA basketball player
Artyom Timofeev = Move forty – I mate!
chess player, mate means checkmate
Sean Connery = On any screen
Scottish actor & producer
Lionel Barrymore = Laborer in my role
American actor, director, screenwriter

The next group of anagrams are topical in a less direct way. They don't contain key words that obviously relate to the subject but they convey a message befitting the subject.

Washington Generals = Another winless gang
Frequent victim of Harlem Globetrotters
Los Angeles Lakers = Seek all large sons
NBA basketball team
Forest Whitaker = Worthiest faker
American actor
Claudia Schiffer = Face us, fair child
German model

The name of German violin virutoso Anne-Sophie Mutter generated so many topical anagrams, a page was devoted entirely to her: Anne-Sophie Mutter Anagrams.

Presentation: Anagrams should be presented in an unambiguous and pleasing form. Using an equal sign between the subject and solution is the most common and probably best approach. Leaving a space between subject and anagram is also acceptable. Also, do not use all capital letters in presentation. This becomes an important issue in complex anagrams that incorporate punctuation, abbreviations, proper names, etc. My practice of capitalizing the first letter of an anagram is a personal choice and by no means a standard.

Cohesiveness: The word cohesive means tending to unify, harmonize or be consistent. Whereas topicality regards how an anagram relates to the subject, cohesiveness refers to how the words within an anagram relate to each other. In a cohesive anagram, two or more words will comfortably relate to each other in theme and any accompanying prepositions and articles will be accurate given the context. Cohesiveness is a very pleasing quality in an anagram which in my view gives it special interest. Listed below are some cohesive anagrams that can be found in the Galen galleries.

Laurence Fishburne = He burns fuel in race
Jennifer Tilly = Fly in jetliner
Christopher Higgins = The crops rising high
Karen Black = A bank clerk
Anderson Cooper = Doors can reopen
Gus Hansen = Shane's gun *
The United States of America = Taste fried meat in hot sauce **

*Shane is a movie gunslinger

**The last anagram is not in the galleries, but is one of more than 200 anagrams that I have found for that subject which have not been released publicly. Taste fried meat in hot sauce is remarkably cohesive. Meat is often fried. Food is tasted. Sauce is often hot. Meat and sauce are commonly together. A six word anagram that has five directly related words, a sensible preposition and sound grammar is a rare find.

Flow/Familiarity: It is very pleasing to find an anagram that "rolls off the tongue". That is to say it has no grammatical weakness and is easy to say and understand. Common facets of anagrams that rate high in this category are copula verbs, articles, pronouns and short prepositions. Below are examples of flow in anagrams.
Gordie Howe = Where do I go?
Helena Bonham Carter = No heart can blame her
The Statue of Liberty = I better fly to the USA

Helena Bonham Carter = No heart can blame her is discussed in A Brief History of Galen Anagrams

Humor: Humor is a good feature to have in anagrams as it adds greatly to the entertainment value, but it is the most subjective of the anagram elements discussed here. Many people appreciate profanity and graphic sexual content whereas others hate it. Here are some anagrams of a subtler nature that contain humorous content.

Mike Commodore = I mock mere doom
Mike Cammalleri = I'm a camel milker
Andie McDowell = I clawed old men
Marco Sturm = Ram scrotum

Some anagrams are humorous due to their absurdity. I find this is a common occurence when studying long and challenging names that have little chance of generating a sensible anagram. Below are a few anagrams of this type.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic = I moved Dracula's car
Nikolai Khabibulin = Lob a hulk in a bikini
Milwaukee Bucks = We mule-kick a bus
Charlotte Bobcats = Cats cab to brothel

It should be noted that these anagrams differ from the examples of anagram solutions lacking meaningful content listed above. Absurd anagrams can illicit bizarre or far-fetched mental images or thoughts whereas nonsensical anagrams simply leave people scratching their head trying to discern a meaning.

Provocativeness: Some anagrams grab the mind's attention because of stimulating or provocative content. They touch upon subjects that resonate strongly with people and elicit an emotional response rather than simply being something for the mind to process rationally. It's hard to compose memorable anagrams using words like nib, lobe or flask and obscure words which are known by few will be of less interest still. By contrast, words like fire, death and kiss have the potential to help create a provacative message. Here are some anagrams that fall into this category.

Camilo Villegas = All love is magic
Sandra Bullock = A black sun lord
Louise Fletcher = Her soul felt ice
Alicia Silverstone = Satanic role is evil

Alicia Silverstone's name seems to generate many provocative anagrams as can be seen in Actor Anagrams, R to Z.

Prophesy: When tracing the history of anagrams, one learns that prophesy was often the primary goal in the search for anagrams. People sincerely believed that messages found within people's names or other subjects had special significance, most notably if the anagram suggested a character trait or foretold a future event. Most of the anagrams of this type have what could be described as a retroactive prophesy. Imagine if a famous person dies and an anagram is found after the fact that somehow describes that person's death. It would seem to some that the name held a secret message regarding a person that is discovered only after they are gone.

Many people are disturbed by prophetic anagrams, or for that matter, prophesy in general. It's remarkable how people can laugh at filthy, perverted or derogatory anagrams and yet become upset at uncanny ones even if they are not profane or insulting to the subject. One such anagram was in the Galen galleries. It described in blunt terms how someone died. Even twelve years after this person's death, many people were offended and raised an objection. The offending anagram has since been removed.

Linguistic Interest: People who love words and word games would be the ones who like anagrams that fall into this category. Some anagrams are interesting more for things like structure or difficulty than for content. Listed below are some specific categories with examples supplied.

One word anagrams: Cleopatra = Acropetal, Sid Caesar = Ascarides
Would you like to visit a website with many one-word celebrity anagrams? - One Word Anagrams

Names within names: Ernest Hemingway = Seen with Meg Ryan

Repeat words: Yan Stastny = Nasty, nasty

Difficult names: Joel Kwiatkowski = Kiwi lets kook jaw

Profanity, crudeness, insults & slander: Many people find profanity and crudity to be desirable elements in anagrams but do not expect to find anagrams of this nature on this website.

- by Steven Galen




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